Spur of the Moment
by boasamishipper
Summary: Jinora feels bad for trying to live a happy, fulfilling life while her heart still belongs to a dead man. Final installment in the Spurs 'verse.


_a/n: this fic has been brought to you by an author obsessed with old western movies and the inability to stop writing in this 'verse. if it isn't clear, i own nothing._

* * *

Jinora doesn't remember how time had passed when Kai had been with her. But now that he isn't around, time refuses to pass at all. It elongates and stagnates, and she endures it. But only just.

To cope, she tries a number of things. She throws herself into her work; grading papers so quickly and thoroughly that some of the other teachers ask her to take some of their course load as well. She visits with Ikki and Huan and their newborn daughter Miza, named for Huan's paternal grandmother, and tries her best to be a good, doting aunt to her niece. She plants a garden in her backyard and tends to it every afternoon. She devours every book she can get her hands on.

Life goes on. Her father runs for reelection. Meelo starts dating Tuyen, a flower merchant from town whose younger brother is one of Jinora's students. Asami uses her new found wealth to fix up the town, something that Bolin is especially grateful for because Pabu's Saloon has been looking a bit shabby lately. Korra and Mako plan a spring wedding. Sheriff Beifong and Miss Su (technically her aunt-in-law, now) still clash over the tiniest things every day, which gives the town something to talk about.

Jinora grieves, but she grieves silently. That bit is particularly horrible, she thinks, because she can't tell anyone why she's grieving. Who would she tell? Her mother has certainly noticed that she's been upset lately, but what is Jinora going to tell her? That she's sad because she's grieving the deaths of Skoochy Nakamura and the Yu Dao Kid? That she'd been in a wild, romantic relationship with the latter? Of course not. Even though Kai is dead, her parents still won't understand. How can they? They'd raised their children to be wary of outlaws and the like, to never trust them.

Jinora knows what her parents had meant now. She had trusted Kai to come back to her and he'd broken his promise, that selfish bastard had _promised_ her that he would come back.

Why had she expected otherwise? Kai Wen always ended up gone.

Some days all she can think of are Kai's last moments. Wondering if Skoochy had died first, or if Kai had. Wondering if Kai had known, even for a second, that there would be no chance of getting out of this situation. Wondering if it had hurt ( _stupid, don't be stupid, of course it had_ ). Wondering what Kai's last words had been. Wondering if maybe his last thoughts had been about her.

(After she has this thought for the first time, she tries and succeeds in drowning her sorrows in alcohol, at least for the time being.)

Some days she wants to scream at Kai. To curse him for being so fucking selfish as to die and leave her all alone. Some days she just spends her days wishing for the chance to hold Kai close and say goodbye.

(Most days, she wants so much more than that.)

It hurts. Everything hurts so damn much and she doesn't want to feel anymore. The memories they'd shared are always there, always in her head, and she swears that her memories are taunting her. It had been so good. They'd had ups and downs but overall they'd had it so good. She'd been so happy and she'd lost it all, because that's just her luck, isn't it?

She'd give the rest of her life for one more moment with Kai. In a heartbeat.

It's almost like she's screaming and no one can hear. She almost feels ashamed that someone could be that important. That without him, she feels like nothing. No one will ever understand how much it hurts.

She eats little and drinks less. She barely sleeps for fear of nightmares. Sometimes she lays in bed wearing Kai's shirts just so she can feel closer to him. Sometimes she wishes that Kai will stumble through her door (with Skoochy, without Skoochy, she doesn't care) half dead—she doesn't care how injured he is, she just wants him back. Sometimes she thinks that she'll never stop crying. Sometimes it's all she can do to get up in the morning, all she can do to take her next breath.

Soon, it's been a month since she'd heard of Kai's death, and it seems impossible that the world is still going on around her.

* * *

Jinora still has to maintain the façade that she's doing fine for the sake of everyone around her, so when her mother asks her to join them for brunch that weekend, she says yes even though she really doesn't want to go. She arrives around ten thirty with a basket of pastries from the local market and joins Pema in the kitchen. She may not agree with gender roles but if brunch is going to be served today, she'd prefer it to taste good. After all, the last time that Meelo had ended up in the kitchen they'd nearly had to call for a fire brigade.

Tenzin, Pema, Ikki, Meelo and Rohan sit around the table. Ikki and Meelo have neglected to bring their significant others—Tuyen is busy and Huan has opted out, saying that he'd rather look after Miza. Rohan still isn't interested in any girls, but then again, he's only thirteen years old. He has time.

The conversation is pleasant and Jinora actually finds herself smiling and relaxing for the first time in ages. The food is great and plentiful, but for some reason she finds herself unable to stomach it. She usually likes tofu quiche but when Pema passes the serving plate to her, something about the smell causes her stomach to lurch uncontrollably and she rushes from the table before she has the chance to excuse herself.

She's profoundly embarrassed and apologizes when she returns several minutes later. "Sorry, Mom," she says, her cheeks bright red. "I'm sure it's great, I'm just not feeling so well."

"Not to worry," Pema says kindly, passing her a pitcher of juice. Jinora pours some in a glass and drinks it gratefully, trying to wash the taste of vomit out of her mouth. "I've heard that there's a nasty bug making its rounds around here." She chuckles, obviously lost in memories. "Although I do remember that the thought of tofu quiche alone was enough to make me sick when I was pregnant with Ikki. Do you remember that, Tenzin?"

The word 'pregnant' is almost enough to set Jinora's stomach churning again as what little color was left in her face drains out. _Pregnant. Oh Spirits. Pregnancy._

There's coolness to the tone underlying the normal warmth of Pema's voice as she asks, "You're not pregnant, are you, dear?"

In the split second before Jinora forces laughter from her body, she nearly has a panic attack. It's not possible. It's the one consequence of her relationship that neither she nor Kai had really considered. Yes, they had had sex before he'd left on that fateful robbery attempt with Skoochy, but they'd been careful. They always were, and yet she knows that condoms aren't always one hundred percent foolproof when it comes to these sorts of things.

She knows the symptoms of pregnancy because of Ikki's constant complaining over the last year. Back pain, nausea, leg cramps, all of which she has experienced over the last six weeks or so. And she can't remember the last time she had her time of the month…

No, she can't be pregnant. Not now. Not while she's still mourning Kai. This is something that she never could have predicted.

 _Stop freaking out_ , Jinora commands herself. _You aren't pregnant. It's just a stomach bug._

"No, Mom," she says after her bout of nervous laughter has ceased. "I'm not pregnant."

Meelo laughs rather unkindly at her. "Jinora pregnant, Mom? Really? She's probably never even done it with anyone."

It takes everything Jinora has to choke down her hateful comments against her brother. She fights the urge to say that she's probably had better sex in a year that Meelo has had in his entire life, but she isn't that cruel. Hopefully her family will take her flushed complexion for embarrassment rather than anger.

Tenzin goes pale, though from fear, anger, or disgust, Jinora doesn't know. "Meelo, I'd rather not hear about Jinora's…sex life at this table," he says firmly. Ikki looks rather disgusted as well, which is saying something considering that the living proof of her sex life is three houses down.

"So," Rohan says, obviously changing the subject away from Jinora's sex life, "Ikki, how's Miza doing?"

The topic of Miza is always a conversation goldmine. Tenzin, Pema, Meelo and Rohan listen to Ikki's rapid-fire tales of how Miza can lift up her head now and how her sleeping patterns are finally changing which is great because she and Huan can finally get more than four hours of sleep a night, and Jinora sweats nervously in her chair.

Pregnant, she thinks numbly. Oh Spirits.

* * *

Her hand keeps subconsciously going to her lower abdomen over the next few days. She doesn't want to think about it, she doesn't dare think how much of a possibility this could be. She can't be pregnant. She cannot. Even though Jinora _knows_ that she isn't pregnant, something inside of her keeps clamoring for physical proof. All she needs to do is to take one of the home pregnancy tests that they sell at the town pharmacy, but sweet Spirits, she can't do that. If word ever gets out about Governor Gyatso's unmarried daughter buying pregnancy tests, her father will lose the next election in a landslide. No, she needs to protect her family's reputation here.

The next weekend, she takes a day trip to Wuchu, the next town over, where she goes into the town pharmacy (hiding her face as best as she can while doing so for fear of word getting back to her family) and buys several pregnancy tests. She wants to take them in the comfort of her own home, but her breath freezes in her lungs at the thought of her family finding out. So she opts to take the tests in the pharmacy bathroom.

She urinates on the stick quickly, flushes the toilet and then washes her hands, keeping the stick in her line of vision the entire time. Her heart is in her throat and she feels as though the test is a ticking time bomb, as though when five minutes or so pass her entire life will be obliterated. When the recommended time passes, the tears begin welling in her eyes because whether she wants to admit it or not, she has a gut feeling about what the results are.

Two thin pink lines stare mockingly up at her. _Look at us_ , they seem to be saying. _You can't doubt physical proof. Congratulations, Jinora, you're pregnant._

No. No, this isn't happening. Maybe it's a false positive. Sometimes those happen, right? She decides to wait a little bit and then take the other ones.

An hour and five pregnancy tests later and the results are the same. Every bit of logic and rationality has left her. At some point her knees had given out and now she's on the bathroom floor curled up in a ball, her forehead resting on her knees and her tears soaking through her skirt.

Pregnant.

In seven months, give or take, she's going to birth.

Jinora breathes in and out slowly because damn it, she isn't about to pass out in the Wuchu Pharmacy restroom. She can do this. She can handle anything.

No. No, she can't. She catches a glimpse of the positive pregnancies tests on the floor and bursts into tears again. She can't do this, she can't be pregnant now. She isn't ready to be a mother, not when she's twenty-four and feels like she's barely a child herself. She desperately wants to go home and tell her mother everything but she can't, damn it, she can't, not without revealing that she was the Yu Dao Kid's lover and she's not ready for that tidbit of information to become the latest gossip.

She wants Kai.

"Pull yourself together, Jinora," she tells herself firmly before she cries even more at the very thought of Kai. She slowly calms down, her tears fading to the occasional hiccough. "You have to pull yourself together, alright? So you're pregnant. That's okay. You can handle it. You can handle anything. You don't have to tell Mom and Dad, you'll just have to wear baggy dresses for a while to hide it. And when the nine months are up there's always adoption and…"

Adoption. She bites her lip. Would she really be able to go through nine months of pregnancy and then want to give up her child? Not only her child, but _Kai's_ child. Her unborn baby is the last connection to Kai Wen that she's ever going to have.

No matter. She has the next seven months to think about it.

And then, after she stuffs the pregnancy tests into her satchel, she leaves Wuchu with bloodshot eyes and her head held high.

* * *

"Did you ever consider putting up Miza for adoption?"

Ikki nearly drops the spoon she's using to feed the baby in question. "What? No!" Jinora stares at her, one eyebrow raised. Ikki caves. "Well, yes. Huan and I both did. But as time went on, I just—well, I couldn't let her go. Those orphanages are bad places, Jinora. I went down there just to see and they look nothing like the brochures. Underfed children, overworked owners, maggots in the food: I couldn't do it."

"Mako and Bolin came from orphanages and they turned out fine," Jinora says weakly.

"Yeah, I know that, but I figured, what if they're the two kids that do out of the hundreds that don't? After I visited some of those places, I just—well, I didn't want to leave Miza there. Even though I was in no way ready to become a mother, I knew that me raising our baby would be a much better idea."

Jinora's about to say something else when a thought hits her. "Hang on, when did you go to an orphanage? I don't remember any of that."

Ikki flushes and turns away, cleaning some of the baby food off Miza's cheeks. "About a month after I found out I was pregnant. Remember when I said that I was taking a day trip to Gaoling?" Come to think of it, Jinora _does_ remember that. She also remembers Ikki crying upon returning and how she'd locked herself in her room for about a day and a half. _I was probably too focused on worrying about Kai to really put the pieces together._ "I went to about five or six orphanages and then called it quits."

Jinora resolves to check out these orphanages for herself as soon as possible—they can't possibly be as horrible as Ikki says. Maybe she can fake a teacher's convention next weekend.

"Why do you ask?"

This time, it's Ikki's question that catches Jinora off guard. "Oh, uh, no reason," she stammers. "I was…I was reading this book and adoption was one of the main themes and it just—got me wondering."

Thankfully, Ikki doesn't enquire further.

* * *

Jinora goes to Gaoling that weekend, telling her parents that she's attending a teacher's convention. Ikki's right; there are lots of orphanages there, along with loads of street kids. If she closes her eyes, she can almost imagine Mako and Bolin living like this for years, but she can't help but feel horrible once she opens her eyes. Children ranging from Miza's age to Rohan's age are on the streets, with sallow skin and dirty smiles and tin cups jangling with too few yuans—that bit she can easily rectify; she drops five yuans in all of their cups. Five yuans aren't much, but the smiles on the children's faces melt her heart: it's as though she'd just bought them a lifetime's supply of food. Spirits, these poor children…

The orphanages are even worse. The woman in charge of the East Gaoling Orphanage is drunk when she answers the door, and the children behind her are shivering—it's clear that they don't have enough food or warm clothes. The couple in charge of the Refuge for Abandoned Children seem nice, but it's clear that their orphanage is already full to bursting and they cannot take any more children in. When she rings the bell for the Kindred Souls Orphanage and the Little Steps Home, no one answers the door and both places look like they've been abandoned. Only one orphanage has electricity—the other ones don't because of the possible safety hazard. True to Ikki's word, the Refuge for Abandoned Children's food does have maggots in it, and she nearly throws up when she sees the children eating it anyways without complaint.

Gaoling feels like something out of a horror novel. It gets even worse when she thinks about how Skoochy and Kai had robbed banks here together. They might have even stood exactly where she's standing now…

"Hey, lady?"

Jinora looks down to see a little girl with green eyes and dark skin tugging on her skirt and staring intensely up at her. She swallows, ignoring the lump in her throat as she kneels down to be at the little girl's eye-level. The little girl doesn't quite look like a street kid; but then again, what does she know? Can she really consider herself an expert in these matters after six hours? "Yes? How can I help you?"

The little girl shoves a tin cup in Jinora's face, accidentally bumping her nose in the process. "Will you make a d-donation to support the Pfannee Jing Fund?"

"Sure." Jinora reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out three crumpled bills, handing them over to the little girl, who beams. It's evident that this is more money than she knows what to do with. Then something hits her. "I'm assuming that the Pfannee Jing Fund all goes to you, right?" The girl—Pfannee—goes pale. Jinora takes that as a yes. She then reaches into her pocket and pulls out two more bills, giving them to Pfannee. "Stay safe, alright?"

"Thanks, lady!" says Pfannee, wrapping her arms around Jinora in a quick hug before she races away down the street, practically skipping in joy. Getting five yuans from a perfect stranger probably made her day.

Jinora makes it all the way back to her hotel room before she bursts into tears.

" _Even though I was in no way ready to become a mother, I knew that me raising our baby would be a much better idea."_

She understands now. Spirits, does she understand. Ikki was right. She may not be ready to become a mother, but she's going to have to suck it up during the next seven months because there's no way that Jinora's going to leave her son or daughter here, where they'll have to fend for themselves or be neglected in an orphanage. She can't let her baby end up like Pfannee Jing, who depends on the kindness of others to support herself. Raava, how old is Pfannee anyway? Six? Seven?

No matter how old Pfannee is, Jinora isn't changing her mind. She's keeping her baby.

Jinora can feel her stomach starting to roil; she places one hand over the other on her stomach. She looks down at her lower abdomen. "Hey, baby," she says, feeling slightly weird because she definitely did not think that she would end this horrible day by negotiating with a fetus. "You may not like it, but it seems that we're both stuck with each other, so please cut me some slack. I'm doing the best I can." Her stomach seems to settle and she lets out a sigh of relief.

The afterthought, "I wish your father was here," causes her to dry-heave and she barely makes it to the bathroom in time.

* * *

A month passes. Jinora's gotten a little better at managing her near-constant bouts of nausea, but no one ever warned her about how much she would be eating. Spirits, she thinks that she's gained at least ten pounds since finding out the news. Her parents haven't said anything about her weight. She still hasn't revealed her pregnancy, nor has she changed her mind regarding keeping her baby.

The real issue is how she's going to tell her family when she really starts to show. Her stomach is still somewhat flat, but in a month or so it isn't going to be like that. So either she's going to have to start eating a lot more in front of her parents to make them think that she's just been rapidly gaining weight, or she has to tell them that she's pregnant with the Yu Dao Kid's child.

It should be obvious which option she's taking.

Jinora throws a dinner party one evening, inviting her parents, her siblings, Huan, Tuyen, Korra, Mako (she still can't stand the bastard after all these months because he'd nearly killed Kai, but she can't not invite him), Bolin, Opal, Asami, and Sheriff Beifong. Miss Su and her husband decline her invitation. She spends all day cooking and cleaning the house, and when six o'clock rolls around and people start arriving, she's tired but content.

Everyone seems to be doing alright. Miza's really growing up now: she's already five months old and is starting to babble. Ikki swears that Miza's been saying 'mama' but Huan doesn't think so. Bolin and Opal are happy in their relationship, but they aren't talking about getting married anytime soon. Korra and Mako keep talking about their upcoming wedding—Korra insists on Jinora being one of her bridesmaids, along with Asami and Opal. Jinora's flattered but she hopes that her baby will be borne by then so she isn't horribly pregnant in her bridesmaid dress. Asami's managing her newfound wealth easier. Tuyen and Meelo seem like they're enjoying each other's company, or rather enjoying making out with one another every five minutes. The conversation never falters, the food is well made, and Jinora finds herself having a good time.

During dessert, Korra asks Jinora to come to the bathroom with her. She's not sure why Korra needs the company, but doesn't decline. While Jinora's washing her hands, Korra rummages through her purse and eventually looks up. "Hey, Jinora, do you have any safety pins? I've got a tear in my skirt."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I have some in my bag."

Korra nods gratefully and goes to get Jinora's bag from where it's hanging on a chair at the kitchen table. Just as Jinora finishes drying her hands, she hears rather than sees Korra run back into the bathroom and lock the door behind her, a shocked look on her face. Jinora's blood freezes in her veins as she sees Korra holding the pregnancy tests she'd bought back in Wuchu.

Shit.

Korra breaks the silence first. "Jinora Gyatso," she says, her voice calm. Somehow that scares Jinora more than anything. "What the hell is this?"

Jinora swallows the rising lump in her throat. "These are—they're, uh…p-pregnancy tests." Her voice is shaking, she is shaking and oh Spirits she's such a damn fool, why didn't she just get rid of those fucking tests back in Wuchu?

"I damn well know that these are pregnancy tests, Jinora!" Korra's practically yelling and Jinora quickly turns on the water in the sink and in the shower to drown her out. The last thing that she needs right now is everyone else finding out too. "I found these in your bag when I was looking for safety pins. Jinora, are you pregnant?"

She can't lie now. Not when Korra's holding the evidence in her hands. Tears blur her vision and she blinks them aside as she nods, unable to meet her friend's eyes. "Yes," she whispers, her voice small. "I'm pregnant."

Korra startles, obviously having expected Jinora to deny it. "H-how far along are you?"

"Three and a half months."

She swears. Jinora's still shaking so badly that her knees are knocking together. Neither of them make any move to shut off the running water. "Who's the bastard that knocked you up?" Korra asks vehemently. Her fists are clenched at her sides. "I swear I'll kill his sorry ass—"

"No!" And because things just aren't bad enough, Jinora starts to cry—real, heaving sobs shake her body as she sits down with a thud on the bathroom floor. "Korra, you don't understand."

"What's there to understand? You obviously got pregnant against your will—"

"I didn't get pregnant against my will, Korra!" Jinora's words come out through gasping breaths. "It was consensual, everything was consensual. K—the one who got me pregnant is dead. He's already dead…he's been dead for four months." She buries her face in her hands, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I miss him, Korra…"

She wants Kai back. She wants to see his face, hear his voice, feel his arms wrap around her in a protective hug, taste his lips on hers. She misses him so much and damn it, she doesn't care what it takes, she wants him back.

Why can't he just come back?

Korra sits down next to her and places a gentle hand on Jinora's shaking shoulder. "Hey," she says quietly, barely audible over the running water and Jinora's tears. "You shouldn't cry like that, Jin, it's bad for the baby."

The baby. Oh, Raava, the baby. Jinora's gasping breaths slowly fade to tears and hiccoughs. She places both hands over her lower abdomen, rubbing it softly to calm both her and the baby down. "It's okay, it's okay," she murmurs. "Mommy's okay now."

Korra puts her arm around Jinora, and Jinora leans into her hold. No matter how awkward this is, at least her condition isn't completely secret anymore. "So," Korra finally says, much calmer now. Jinora's stopped shaking quite so much. "Who's the father?"

Jinora bites her lip, pulling away from Korra. "I can't tell you."

"Why?" Korra's brows furrow. "Jinora, I—I won't judge you. You know that."

"You're right, I do know that." Jinora shakes her head. "It's not that I think you'll judge me, Kor. It's just that I really can't tell you. Please respect that." Korra may be accepting of Jinora's unexpected pregnancy, but she knows for a fact that her friend won't be quite so accepting about knowing who the father of Jinora's child is. "And you can't tell anyone. Please say that you won't tell."

After a moment, Korra nods. Jinora isn't blind; she can clearly see her friend is burning up with curiosity and wants to tell everyone but won't ask or tell for her sake. "Okay, Jin," she finally says. "I won't tell."

Jinora embraces Korra, thankful to have at least one person on her side. "Thank you," she says tearfully. "Thank you."

* * *

Korra keeps her secret. She also begins acting far more protective than usual—she researches the type of food Jinora should be eating, whether or not a certain behavior is because of hormones, etcetera. She may be overbearing but having a confidant feels so grand that Jinora doesn't complain. And because she's less stressed out, the next month of her pregnancy passes smoothly as well.

She's decided that once she's noticeably pregnant she'll go away on 'sabbatical' so she can give birth in private. Then she'll return once she's feeling up to it, and explain her baby away by saying that he or she adopted. It's foolproof.

As she's returning home from work, she just about has a heart attack when she sees a man in a cowboy hat and a satchel slung over his back knocking on her door. For a split second she thinks that it's Kai and nearly calls out his name but then she realizes that whoever this man is, he's too tall to be Kai. Not to mention that his skin isn't dark enough. Plus Skoochy isn't at his side. Her hand moves to the pistol that currently rests in her bag just in case he's the enemy.

"Excuse me?" The man whirls around once he hears Jinora's voice. He doesn't look threatening at all: in fact, he looks like he's barely eighteen. Still, her nerves don't ease. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Beg pardon, ma'am." He tips his hat at her. "I'm, ah, looking for a Miss Jinora Gyatso. You haven't seen her around, have you? I was told that this was her place of residence."

She keeps her voice steady. "And who told you that?"

"The Triple Threat Triads, ma'am." Upon seeing her face paling, he quickly backpedals. "My name's News," he says. "I, uh, I'm one of the Yu Dao Kid's friends, and Skoochy set up a contingency that in case he died and anything ever happened to Kai, I had to come and notify you."

"I know that something happened to Kai, I read the damn paper," she snaps, pushing past News and into the house. "Hate to tell you this, News, but you're about four and a half months late." She turns around, ready to shut the door, and then she sees him standing dumbstruck in the doorway with his mouth half open and his hat in his hands and feels sorry for him. "Would you like to come in?" At News' nod, she tells him to get inside and close the door before the heat gets out.

News sits down and she pours him a cup of tea. He can't seem to take his eyes off her—or rather, the now rather obvious bulge around her midsection. Her family hasn't figured it out yet solely due to a combination of good luck, lots of accessories and baggy dresses. "Miss Gyatso," he finally says, phrasing her name like it's a question. "Are you pregnant?"

It takes everything she has not to roll her eyes at him. "Yes, I'm pregnant." She turns away for a moment, putting the tea kettle away before sitting down on the couch across from him. "Why are you here, anyway? I know you work for the Triple Threat Triads but I still don't really know who you are."

"Name's News," he says again. He's about as helpful as a trap door on a lifeboat. "News Matsumoto. 'Course, my given name ain't News, it's Notin, but everyone in the Triads calls me News 'cause I deliver news."

Her brows furrow together. "What news are you here to deliver, then?" For a moment, she thinks that he's going to tell her that Kai is alive after all—and her heart starts pounding and she clasps her hands together in prayer. Dear Raava, she'll do anything if it means that she won't have to raise this baby alone.

"I'm here to deliver the last will and testament of Kai Wen; aliases Lee Nakamura, Chang Gya, Koryu Fen, Jun Soku, and the Yu Dao Kid." News sounds much more professional now. Something delicate inside her falls from a high edge and shatters. So it's official, then. "Everyone knows that you were his—I'm sorry, but what were you two exactly?"

She can't find the words for a moment. They'd engaged, technically, although their marriage would never be recognized by the eyes of the law. Boyfriend and girlfriend is too personal. Friends with benefits is unprofessional. They hadn't been partners either; Skoochy and Kai were platonic life partners. Best friends, yes, but that isn't it. "Lovers," she finally decides. At least it sounds somewhat romantic. "We were lovers."

"Thought so." News takes off his satchel, pulls out a pencil and a folder and marks something on it. "And I'm assuming that since you were lovers your son or daughter is illegitimate, correct?"

She keeps her cool. Barely. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"The Yu Dao Kid left you money, Miss Gyatso," News explains patiently. Obviously this isn't the first time he's had to explain the rules to a clueless girlfriend of a Triad member. "There are rules for this sort of thing—if your child is born out of wedlock versus if you're married and have a kid. Basically, if your kid is born out of wedlock—a far more likely scenario in our line of work—then he or she gets an undisclosed amount of money that we put into a trust fund that can't be accessed until your kid turns twenty-one."

That sounds incredibly complicated. "Who made up that stupid rule?"

News grins, although it's tinged with sadness. "Skoochy."

"Figures." Jinora takes a sip of tea because of course, Skoochy may not have been officially in charge of the Triple Threats (that was Viper) but everyone had known that he was the de facto leader. A wave of emotion suddenly hits her like a brick—which is nothing new at this point in her pregnancy. She bites her lip, trying not to cry, and looks back at News. "So, our…my child gets money?"

"Yep. But I can't say how much. It's all in a trust fund somewhere."

"What if someone robs it?"

News snickers. "No offense, Miss Gyatso, but do you think anyone would be stupid enough to rob the bank account of the Yu Dao Kid's offspring? They'd be dead if they even tried."

That reassures her. Then she remembers something else. "You, uh…you have Kai's will?"

News' expression softens, and he gives her a piece of paper from the folder that he's been holding onto for the last few minutes. "I can give you some time alone to read it if you like," he says, standing up to do just that.

Jinora nods her thanks wordlessly. Her hands shaking, she unfolds the paper. To her surprise, Skoochy's handwriting stares up at her—but honestly, she's not that surprised. Kai couldn't write or read, so he'd probably asked Skoochy to write his…his will for him.

 _Jinora,_

 _If you're reading this, I'm dead. Obviously I have no way of knowing how, but I hope that I went out in a blaze of glory. I'm not stupid enough to think that I died an old man, married to you with a bunch of kids. I'm not that lucky._

 _I know I refused to say goodbye to you every time Skoochy and I would leave, but that's because I wanted to leave you with hope that I'd come back. Hell, I know the chances were slim to none of me coming back to you without injury. If I didn't know that, I wouldn't be writing this thing. This is my way of saying goodbye, and hopefully making it easier for you to move on with your life._

 _I've realized something over all these years and it's that there ain't no home on earth. Not a place, anyway. Home is a bigger idea than being the building you live in. It's where the people you love are. So when you're in your house and realize you'll always be cooking for one person instead of two or three, don't cry—there's more than one home for me. You're going to see me again one day, so don't start crying. Please don't cry._

 _I didn't want to die without telling you how much you mean to me, Jinora. I don't tell you often enough, but I love you more than anything. You're more important to me than any amount of money that I could ever steal. I could steal quotes from every romance novel in the world and it wouldn't be enough to sum up my feelings for you._

 _Sometimes I sit back and wonder how the hell a woman like you ended up with a guy like me, Jin. Skoochy says that it's because the Spirits felt sorry for me but I don't think so. I think it was fate that you and I ended up together. I just wish that our lives together hadn't ended so soon. That I could've had more time._

 _I love you, Jin._

 _Signed,_

 _Kai Wen_

 _(The Yu Dao Kid)_

She doesn't realize that she's crying until News hands her a tissue. Apparently he hadn't left the room at all. "Miss Gyatso," he whispers, placing a hesitant hand on her shoulder while she blows her nose. "I'm real sorry for your loss."

"It's okay, News," she says, her voice hoarse. Reading Kai's last will and testament has filled her with grief and something else, something that she can't describe. Kai may be dead, but at least she has closure. Thanks to News, she'd got to hear Kai tell her that he loves her one last time, and to her, there's no better gift than that. She pats his hand. "Thanks."

He gives her a lopsided grin, retracting his hand from her shoulder. "Just doing my job, ma'am."

For the rest of the evening, the two of them get to talking. She learns all about how the Triads are slowly falling apart without Skoochy's guidance. How Viper's dead and now Lightning Bolt Zolt runs the show. How Two-Toed Ping had been killed once they'd found out he was a double agent. She learns about News, who's eighteen years old and an only child and had only joined about six months before Kai and Skoochy's deaths: they'd apparently found him in some backwater town and had ended up recruiting him. "And it wasn't 'cause of my shooting either," he says. "To be perfectly frank, Miss Gyatso, I can't even hit the side of a barn if I tried. My real skill's talking—see, I'm a charmer."

She raises an eyebrow. "Oh, is that so?"

"I charmed my way out of a bad situation," he explains. "And that's why Kai and Skoochy recruited me."

She has a feeling that that's not the whole story, but doesn't press. If he wants to tell her the real reason, then he'll tell her.

At eleven o'clock at night, News stands up, says that he has to go. "If you ever need to get in contact with me, then just send a letter," he tells her. "We've got people in the post office and they know how to find me."

"Likewise," she says. "Send a letter my way if you need me." And just as News heads toward the door, she grabs his hand and pulls him into a hug, mindful of her baby bulge. "Thanks, News. For everything."

He tips his hat to her again, says "Ma'am," and leaves.

And just like that, she's alone again.

* * *

The doctor gives Jinora a kind, albeit slightly disgusted, look after she finishes emptying the contents of her stomach in the trash bin. She's five and a half months into her pregnancy. Korra sits, her ankles crossed, in a plastic chair across from them—she's glaring at him, like it's his fault that Jinora had thrown up. No matter how overprotective she is, Jinora's grateful for the company.

Her stomach lurches, and she presses a hand to her mouth. Once the nausea finally goes away, she releases a sigh of relief. "I'm so sorry, Dr. Kyan."

"Quite alright, Miss Gyatso," says Dr. Kyan. She and Korra had made sure to tell the doctor that he couldn't tell anyone that she had been here, and after the baby was born, he had to change Jinora's name on the records to Jin Gya. Thankfully, he'd agreed, and they hadn't even had to bribe him. "You're currently in your fifth month, correct?" Jinora nods, and he continues. "Alright. I'm assuming it's nothing you haven't heard or read before, but I'm going to tell you what you're going to expect this month. Just nod or shake your head if you've experienced this yet." He consults his clipboard quickly before leaning forward in his chair. "So, your growing bump and the weight is going to put extra pressure on your back."

Jinora nods, because she's been having horrible back pains lately. "I still don't understand why that's happening though."

"This is because your center of gravity's changing and you have to maintain good posture to avoid muscle strain in the back," says Dr. Kyan, speaking like he's reading out of an extremely boring manual. Korra notes down what he's saying. "I also recommend wearing a pregnancy girdle to support the weight of your abdomen."

Her brows furrow and she bites her lip, considering. The weight of her abdomen isn't that bad, but he is a doctor. She'll ask Korra later.

"And this is really important, Miss Gyatso," Dr. Kyan warns, even shaking his finger at her like she's a misbehaving child. She looks up at him to show that she's paying attention. "Lifting heavy objects is out of the question."

"See, Doctor, I've been telling her this, but she won't listen to me," Korra says. Tattletale.

Jinora rolls her eyes. "Right, Korra, I'll just use my magical superpowers and manipulate the wind so it can do all of my heavy lifting for me."

The sarcasm isn't lost on Dr. Kyan or Korra. "However," the man stresses, "if you are a mother with zero support system—which I believe you are, Miss Gyatso—lifting heavy objects can't be avoided." Jinora shoots Korra a triumphant look; Korra sticks her tongue out at her. "If you absolutely have to, lift the weights with the strength of your quadriceps in your thighs and the biceps in your arms. I can't stress how imperative this is: under no circumstances is pressure to be put on the center of your body. Do you understand?" Both Korra and Jinora say the affirmative. Dr. Kyan looks satisfied. "Now, Miss Gyatso, are there any questions you have for me? Has anything happened this month that you think is out of the ordinary?"

Jinora pauses to consider it, separating the perfectly normal things from her concerns. "I've, uh…my hips feel like they're wider, and my breasts are constantly aching. I know that's normal, though. Um, hot flashes—I've been having a lot of those lately and it's nearly winter. My legs ache when I stand for long periods of time, and…my mood swings are back. I keep," she swallows, "I keep having doubts about whether I can raise my baby. Whether I should just give him or her up for adoption."

Dr. Kyan laughs, but it isn't condescending—thankfully it isn't, otherwise Korra would've decked him. "The hot flashes are because of the increased blood supply inside your body, Miss Gyatso, and they're perfectly normal, don't worry. As are your aching legs and mood swings. The mood swings are especially normal—no one can be sure why, but most doctors hypothesize that it's because every day you start seeing your bump growing and it gets to you. Everyone experiences fear of being a parent—I know I did." He glances fondly at the picture of two children resting of his desks. Jinora's opinion of him rises. "Everything you've said is largely hormonal and natural. Anything else?"

When Jinora shakes her head, Korra asks about precautions to take this month. That gets Dr. Kyan started on a long spiel about managing rashes, wearing comfortable clothing, having a fiber diet, good posture, health and fitness, having a positive attitude, an increased appetite, etcetera. There's only one thing that really catches her attention. "The baby's moving?"

"Yes, Miss Gyatso. This is the time you have to start communicating with your child—not that you shouldn't have been before, but now when you talk, the baby is most likely going to be responding in the form of movements and kicks." Dr. Kyan smiles again. Jinora looks down at her abdomen, trying to imagine what that'll feel like. "Trust me, Miss Gyatso, you're going to love the feeling. My wife did with both of our boys."

As they leave the doctor's office and walk down the street, Korra says, "Dr. Kyan told me that your baby bump's just going to get a lot bigger from here on out, Jin. I think that once you hit your seventh month, you and I have to leave."

Jinora nods absentmindedly before realizing two things: one, that's two months away, and two, Korra had just offered to go with her. "You—you'll come with me?"

Korra's eyes narrow in confusion. "Of course I will." The rest of her words are cut off as Jinora throws her arms around her in a bear hug, tears trickling down her cheeks. She's not going to give birth alone.

* * *

"Jinora, are you feeling alright?" Pema asks, tilting her head to the side as she scrutinizes her daughter. "You've been so secretive the last few months, I feel like I hardly see you anymore."

They'd run into each other at the market, and Jinora had quickly covered her upper body with her bag to prevent suspicion. Although baggy dresses and extra accessories and scarves and good luck have helped her so far, there's no telling if Pema will figure it out anyway due to her mother's intuition. "Oh, uh, I've just been busy," she says lamely, still covering her upper body. "Teaching, and grading papers, and—and…stuff."

Pema isn't having any of it. "Too busy to see your family? Jinora, honey, we miss you."

"I know, Mom. I—I miss you too." It's the truth. She hasn't really talked to her parents or siblings since the dinner party where Korra found out she was pregnant. "I swear, I'll spend more time with you soon." She pauses. "Well, after spring, anyways."

"Why? What happens in the spring? I know Korra and Mako are getting married then, but is there something else?"

Her heart almost stops then and there. If Korra's going away this spring, that means…that means she's going to miss her wedding. She's giving up getting married just to be with Jinora when she gives birth.

What is she thinking?

"I'm planning on going away for a couple months," she finally says, resolving to talk about it with Korra later. "On sabbatical. I've…I've never traveled the world before, you know, and I figured, I'm definitely old enough, why shouldn't I?"

Pema looks like she can list a thousand reasons why Jinora shouldn't go traveling around the world, but merely purses her lips in thought. "We can talk about this later, Jinora," she concedes. "When you come to dinner tomorrow night. Ikki, Huan, Miza, Meelo and Tuyen will be there too."

"Fine by me!" Jinora quickly presses a kiss to Pema's cheek and hurries out of the market, eager to find Korra.

* * *

After knocking on Korra's door for two minutes straight, having to explain to Mako that she had to speak with Korra in private, Korra having to ask Mako to leave, and walking up two flights of stairs to Korra and Mako's bedroom just because she's extremely paranoid, Jinora feels more angry than happy with her friend's sacrifice. "Why the hell are you giving up getting married just to be with me?"

Korra just looks confused. Jinora wants to throttle her. "What are you talking about, Jinora?"

"Don't act so innocent," she seethes. "I'm giving birth in the spring. You're getting married in the spring. Unless you plan on teleporting between my bedside and the altar, you have to give one of them up. Since you've said that you're staying with me while I give birth—"

"You think that I'm giving up marrying Mako?" Korra's eyes widen in understanding. "Jin, I'm not giving up marrying him. I'm still marrying him. And I'm still planning on being with you when you give birth."

"You can't be in two places at once, Korra."

"Who said anything about being in two places at once?" Korra places a soothing hand on Jinora's shoulder. "Jinora, I've already talked with Mako about postponing our wedding. He says he's fine with getting married in autumn, which means I can still be there for you while you're giving birth, Jin. What kind of a friend would I be if I left you to give birth alone?"

She's a bit relieved by this, but she still has more questions. "What about the two months when I go away from here? When I go on sabbatical?" She makes air quotes with her fingers when she says 'sabbatical'. "Are you coming with me then too?" Korra nods, as if the answer is obvious. "Have you told Mako?"

Korra sighs. "Yeah. He's not very happy about it, especially because I couldn't give him a better reason than wanting to travel the world as a bachelorette." Jinora stifles a laugh, imagining Mako's face after Korra told him the news. "He may not be happy with me, Jinora, and even if he didn't approve I'd still go with you. No one decides what I do with my life but me, and I'm choosing to be with you."

Korra's declaration brings tears to Jinora's eyes again. "Thank you, Korra," she says, not even bothering to wipe her tears away. "Thank you."

* * *

Jinora sits up in bed quickly, something having acted as her alarm. At first she thinks it's the thunderstorm, but no, it's definitely someone knocking. Who can it possibly be at this hour? She elects to ignore it, whoever it is, in favor of some much-needed shut eye. The baby's been keeping her up at night ever since her fourth month of pregnancy.

Then she recognizes the knocking pattern. Three knocks, four knocks, three knocks. She hasn't heard this pattern for months—not since Skoochy had come to her door in the middle of the night with a bloody Kai slung over his back. They'd been the only ones to know the pattern.

It's as though someone has stuck adrenaline into her veins. She's running to the door before she can blink, her heart nearly pounding out her chest because Kai and Skoochy are the only ones who know that code and it has to be them, it has to be them after all these months and she doesn't care if they're injured she just wants them back and she throws the door open.

News is standing on her doorstep, panting heavily, drenched in rain, blood staining his shirt at the shoulder, looking absolutely terrified, more terrified than anyone she's ever seen. "Miss Gyatso!" he says, his tone relieved.

And then he collapses at her feet.

"News!" Jinora quickly kneels down and is about to pick him up before she remembers her doctor's advice about lifting heavy objects. She channels the strength of the quadriceps in her thighs and the biceps in her arms and lifts News, bringing him to her couch then returning to the door and slamming it shut. Luckily he's coming around—thank Raava he isn't dead, she doesn't think that she can stomach his death. "Wake up, News, talk to me. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Ugh," he groans, sitting up, "Miss Gyatso—"

"Don't waste time on pleasantries, News," she retorts. "What. Happened?"

"I—I robbed a bank." For the first time, she notices the satchel at his side that obviously contains at least a thousand yuans. "Then…then the guys l-left me and I had to run from the fuzz and they're chasing me and now—"

Jinora's blood freezes in her veins. "Wait, what do you mean they're chasing you?"

"I mean they're _chasing_ me, Miss Gyatso!" he snaps with more energy than she'd thought he possessed. "The fuzz have—they've chased me all the way from fucking Wuchu and they're still after me now; I barely managed to lose them in town because I jumped off my horse and I ran here because you're the only friend I have here."

She barely manages to bite back a sarcastic reply that she's hardly a friend, she's his de facto late boss's late partner's lover. That's not what they need right now. "So you think that they're on their way here?"

"I don't know, Miss Gyatso. I—I got shot by someone, my tracking senses are a bit fuzzy." His words are fairly doused in pain and sarcasm. Jinora realizes that she should probably make herself useful and hurries to the kitchen. When she returns a few seconds later with a bottle of whiskey and a sewing kit, he's still talking. "Like I said, you're the only friend I have here. I can't go anywhere because I might sell out the gang—what're you doing?"

Jinora looks up from where she's sitting next to him on the couch. "I have to disinfect your wound, News, and then I'm going to get the bullet out and sew you back up."

"The bullet went through and through, Miss Gyatso."

"Are you sure?" Jinora leans forward, trying to see his wound in the dimly lit living room. It certainly looks like it. Whereas Kai had had horrible luck with injuries in the line of duty, it appears that News has far better luck with these matters. "Alright, News, I think that you're in the clear, but I still have to disinfect your wound."

After she does so—News has to bite down hard on one of Jinora's pillows to stifle his scream of pain—she puts the bottle of whiskey on the coffee table. "News," she says, moving to place a hand on his shoulder and then quickly retracting it. "Look, I—"

And then there's another series of knocks on the door, followed by a muffled voice. "Open up! This is the Wuchu Sherriff's Department!"

Jinora and News leap to their feet. "I need to hide," News says quickly. "Do you—do you have a basement? A cellar? Anything?"

"No, I don't," she answers, cursing herself for not living in a house with any of those things. "Damn. Damn! Wait—I have an idea. You'll have to hide yourself in my bedroom, hide under my bed, please. No one'll think to look there." Before she even finishes her sentence, News tears away down the hall and into her bedroom, slamming the door shut.

Composing herself, she goes to answer the door. Opening it, she sees three deputies standing there with frowns on their faces. "Ma'am," one says, politely tipping his hat at her. "My associates and I are the Wuchu deputies, and we're looking for someone. A very dangerous bank robber has escaped and we believe he may be around here."

She makes an effort to look shocked even though she's absolutely terrified. "Is that so?"

"Yes ma'am. Mind if we ask you a few questions?" When Jinora shakes her head, the first one continues. "Have you been in bed the entire evening?"

 _Yeah, until News woke me up to tell me that he robbed a bank, got shot and is on the run from the Wuchu deputies._ "Yes sir, I have, although I may have gotten up to use the bathroom a few times." She smiles at them.

She can tell that her answer's slightly unnerved them. Then one of them grins. "Then why," Deputy 2 says, "are there footprints leading to your house?"

 _Damn it, News, you idiot!_ She makes an effort to stay calm and composed. "Ah, I know why."

"Do you?"

 _I hope to Raava they buy this excuse._ "Yes. My neighbor's usually a bit drunk these days. He wandered over here because he thought this was his house. Then I told him it wasn't, and he went home."

They don't push it, thank the Spirits. "Miss, are you pregnant?"

Jinora giggles, trying to appear ditzy as she rubs her stomach. _News, I swear if they don't buy this then I'm going to kill you._ "I hardly think my condition will help you figure out where your missing person is, Deputy."

"That's not why, Miss. If you're pregnant, then why is there whiskey on your coffee table?"

Her heart nearly stops beating. The whiskey. Damn it, she'd forgotten about the whiskey! She should've told News to take it with him. "I had a cut and needed to disinfect it," she lies, praying that she sounds more confident than she feels. "It—it was on my thigh…you understand why I can't show it to you, of course."

The deputies push past her into the house, and her breathing quickens as she notices a red bloodstain on her couch cushion. Evidently they notice it too. "Miss, is that blood on your couch?"

"Oh, uh—" _Think, Jinora, think, they've got nothing on you…you need to scare them so they'll go away…_ "It's my sister's."

Deputy 1 raises an eyebrow. Deputy 2 doesn't look very impressed. "Is it now?"

"See, my sister came over here yesterday because she thought she was pregnant too, and took a pregnancy test only to realize that she wasn't actually pregnant. Then she was jumping on the couch and she stayed the night, she slept on the couch—"

"Miss, do you have a point?"

 _News, you owe me one._ "It's menstrual blood, Deputy." The deputy jerks away from her couch like he's been electrocuted. Deputy 3 looks absolutely disgusted. Jinora feels horrible for lying but at the same time she's amused by just how much the thought of menstrual blood disgusts them.

"Ah." Deputy 2 coughs, moving backwards quickly like the couch had omitted a deadly toxin rather than News' blood. "Well, it, ah, it looks like you're not harboring much of anything. Sorry to bother you, ma'am."

Jinora stands at the door, silently watching as the three deputies make their way back to their horses and then ride off toward the tree line. Once they disappear, she lets out a breath that she hadn't known she'd been holding in. Closing the door, she says, "You can come out now, they're gone."

The bedroom door slowly opens to reveal a sheepish-looking News. "Miss Gyatso," he says, coming closer to her and appearing like he's going to hug her, "I don't know how I can ever—"

She slaps him across the face, causing him to fall backward, barely catching himself on the coffee table. "Do you understand what I just had to do for you, News? I had to lie to the fuzz for you, you bastard! Do you know how much stress I just went through lying for you? Do you know how bad stress is for the baby?"

"Miss Gyatso—"

"Jinora," she interrupts him. She's still furious but her anger is waning slightly at the look on his face. Raava, he really is young. He's barely older than Meelo. "News, you've passed out at my door, bled on my couch, I've disinfected your wound and had to lie to the fuzz from Wuchu for you. I think that you're entitled to call me Jinora now."

"Yes ma'am…ah, Jinora. Look, Jinora, I know you practically risked death for me and we've only met once before but…but I don't how I can thank you. You saved me." He sticks out his hand, which Jinora takes. "I owe you my life."

She rolls her eyes. "No need to swear a life debt to me, News. Look, next time you want to stop by—please just give me fair warning? I think you took ten years off my life when you showed up at my door bleeding."

"I promise to visit you under much better circumstances, Miss Gyatso."

For some reason, this makes her laugh. "I'll hold you to that, News."

* * *

Her parents don't take the idea that she's going on sabbatical very well, but at least they allow her to do it. She gets to work planning on who she wants to be her substitute teacher while she's gone. She asks Meelo to take care of her house when she's away and explains to everyone that no, it isn't a mid-life crisis, she just really wants to travel the world.

She tells News that she's going to be away until spring so she can give birth in private. He asks her if he can also be there when she gives birth, for moral support, and she cries on his shoulder for five minutes straight out of gratitude. She tells Korra that one other person knows about her pregnancy and will also be there when it happens, to which Korra rolls her eyes and says, "Jinora, I don't think you understand the point of a secret."

Once everything is squared away, she and Korra leave town two days before her seventh month of pregnancy.

* * *

Traveling is fun.

Of course, Jinora thinks, it'd probably be a lot more fun if she weren't seven months pregnant.

At least in all the different places they travel to, she doesn't have to hide her baby bump behind scarves and too many accessories. She can walk down the street without feeling self-conscious or hiding whenever she sees her parents coming her way and worrying if anyone's going to ask her questions.

They travel around the Earth Kingdom first and stay there the longest. The rolling hills, blue skies and green grass are beautiful, but the history of the small towns in Ba Sing Se and Omashu make her heart soar. She picks up rocks smoothed by time and collects feathers, placing them in her backpack. She cries in the Cave of Two Lovers, knowing that her lost lover is never coming back. Then they go to the Fire Nation. There, they visit Capital City and eat exotic foods and see amazing things—Korra swears that she catches a glimpse of the Fire Lord, but Jinora doesn't believe her. Finally, they go to the Water Tribes, but only for a short time because the cold bothers Jinora after a lifetime of warm seasons. Korra teaches her how to catch fish and throw spears, none of which Jinora is very interested in. They watch children in the Southern Water Tribe go ice dodging and gain their marks of honor.

Of course, there's the small matter that she has to urinate every few minutes and has weird cravings sometimes and heartburn and nausea and frequent mood swings. It's a miracle Korra hasn't just dumped her on the side of the road out of frustration.

Throughout her travels, she keeps wondering if she's really ready for this, if she's really going to do this. If she's really ready to become a mother. If her child is ready to be the subject of rumors for the next few months.

She misses Kai, although she tries not to show it. She misses his smile, his hands, his sense of humor, the ways his lips had felt against hers for the first time. The way they'd once danced in her kitchen for hours with no music. How jealous he'd been when she and Skoochy jokingly flirted with one another. Their mutual love for _The Red String_ and other romance novels.

She tries not to think of how much he would love their child.

Korra asks her one night over steamed noodles if she'd ever considered any baby names. "If it's a boy, maybe you can name it after your…the baby's father," she suggests, stumbling over Kai's title. "What do you think?"

She doesn't want to do that, though. While she wants nothing more than to honor Kai, she doesn't think that she can call her baby Kai without crying. "Maybe," she says. "And if it's a girl?"

"I have no idea." Korra shrugs. "Like I said, any ideas for names?"

Jinora shakes her head. "I always thought it'd just come to me when I would hold my baby for the first time," she says honestly. "I never gave much thought to names in advance."

Korra nods, and that's the end of their conversation.

* * *

One night in Wuchu, which is where they had decided she would give birth, Jinora wakes up quickly to excruciating pain and the feeling that she's just wet herself. She yells Korra's name, and Korra jolts out of bed so quickly that she falls onto the floor with a thud. "Korra," Jinora says quickly, "I think my water just broke."

"What? Are—are you sure? You still have two weeks to go!"

"It's either that or I peed on myself without meaning to!" Jinora snaps, her breathing quickening. Oh Spirits, this is it, she's having the baby. "Korra—"

"I know, Jin, come on." Korra's frantically getting dressed and helps Jinora into a dress, avoiding the amniotic fluid that's drenched her sheets and is slowly staining the carpet. "It's okay, it's okay. We'll get you to the doctor in no time."

Luckily their hotel is right across the street from the clinic, so they really do get to the doctor in no time. Being free from her monthlies has been quite a joy in the last eight and a half months, but the familiar stabbing pains in her lower abdomen are anything but welcome.

Upon entering the clinic, she's given a hospital gown to change into, and Korra helps her get into it. After she puts it on, the nurses come in and record her contractions.

"Korra." Jinora grabs Korra's hand just as the nurses leave. "The person that also knows about my pregnancy, he's staying at the Amber Rose Hotel. Please, go and get him. He's staying there under the name of Notin Ximena, he also goes by News—please go and get him—he said that he wanted to be here—"

Korra rises to her feet, gently dislodging Jinora's hand. "Alright Jinora, I'll get him, I promise. Just, ah, stay here." She exits the room quickly, leaving Jinora alone in the room with the nurses and her contractions. Five minutes later, the labor and delivery specialist nurse practitioner enters the room, checks her over, and states that she's only two centimeters dilated so far and that everything seems to be going fine.

Just as the nurse practitioner finishes his cursory exam, Korra enters the room with News right behind her. "Miss Gyatso—ah, Jinora," News says awkwardly. Obviously Korra's told him everything. "You look…lovely."

"Ah, thank you, News," she says, biting back a curse as a contraction tears through her body. "G-good to see you."

Suspicion etches itself on Korra's face as she looks between the two of them. It must be quite a sight, Jinora thinks. An eighteen year old Triple Threat Triad member and a schoolmarm about to give birth to her bastard child. "So how do you two know each other, exactly?"

News opens his mouth, but Jinora says, "News used to be friends with the father of my child." She leaves out the part where she had to stitch him up and hide him from the Wuchu police department. Spirits, she hopes that no one comes in here to arrest him. Hopefully he's a low-level Triple Threat member who has no wanted posters about him.

By the time her doctor arrives two hours later, the contractions have gotten so bad that it feels like white-hot knives are being plunged into her pelvis. "Miss Gyatso, it seems like you're going at a much quicker pace than usual with dilations. You're already dilated at six centimeters."

"My f-family has a history of quick births," she pants, squeezing News' hand hard in an effort to alleviate the pain. News looks rather queasy, and Korra looks amused at his expression. "I g-guess that that's why I've—agh!—dilated so quickly."

Two hours later, Jinora is at nine centimeters, and Dr. Kyan calls for the delivery team to be assembled.

"Are you, uh, sure you don't want me in here too?" News asks, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He looks like he's a few seconds away from vomiting from the nerves, and she almost laughs at him. "I don't mind."

His expression shows that he does, in fact, mind, and doesn't want to be present when she does give birth. "No, News, that's, ah, that's alright. You—you can just wait in the waiting room."

"Alright, everybody out," Dr. Kyan orders. "Mr. Ximena, the waiting room is this way. Ms. Iluak, please stand on Miss Gyatso's left. Miss Gyatso, you're just about ready to start pushing."

The nurses place Jinora's legs into the stirrups dangling from the ceiling and tie her legs down. A bead of sweat trickles down her face; she's trying so damn hard to course through the pain but she can't, damn it, she can't, it hurts so damn much—

"Alright, Miss Gyatso, what I want you to do is to breathe in really hard, hold it for a moment, then let it go," Dr. Kyan says. "Then, you'll take another breath, hold it down, and then push down through the bottom of your pelvis on my command."

"O-o-okay," Jinora whispers, screwing her eyes shut and squeezing Korra's hand. This is it.

One of the nurses takes off a sheet, leaving Jinora naked from the waist down. She thanks her lucky stars that News isn't here to see this. "Miss Gyatso, please, one, two, three." She takes the deep breath and releases it, then takes another, pushing down with every ounce of willpower she has.

Spirits, but she feels something shifting inside her and it's both liberating and incredibly painful. Fucking Raava, all she wants is to get this baby out of her _right this minute_ because the pain hurts so fucking bad—

"…good! Take a few breaths. And again, one, two, three, push!"

Inhaling quickly, Jinora does it again and this time, the internal shifting is far more painful than earlier.

"Take a few breaths, you can call me whatever you want, I don't care," Dr. Kyan soothes. "You can do this, Miss Gyatso."

"You're doing great, Jin, you're doing awesome! You're kicking labor's ass!" Korra says, gasping in pain because of how tight Jinora is squeezing her hand.

"Now," Dr. Kyan orders, "one, two, three, push!"

She's trying and trying but it hurts too damn much. _Come on, Jinora, come on!_ With all of her strength, she pushes again, screaming in pain because damn it, everything below her waist feels like it's been doused with gasoline and set on fire.

Dr. Kyan, that motherfucking bastard, keeps giving her calm, gentle commands. How he's remaining so calm is beyond her. In all her life, she never could've imagined that she'd be in so much pain.

"Almost done, the baby's crowning! One, two, three, push!"

She's screaming and crying and pushing and Korra is shrieking and Dr. Kyan keeps encouraging her and then…

And then…

Nothing.

The silence is split immediately by a high-pitched shriek, except it's not from her and it isn't from Korra and it can't be from Dr. Kyan or any of the nurses, so…

"Where's my baby?" Jinora wheezes once the stars fade from her vision. The wailing still hasn't ceased. "Dr. Kyan, where's my baby?"

"She's right here, Miss Gyatso, we're just cleaning her up a little."

"…her? It—it's a girl?" With the help of some of the nurses, Jinora sits up on the bed and releases Korra's hand, taking deep breaths because it's over, she'd done it, holy mother of Raava, she'd done it. She's a mother now.

"It's a girl, Jin," Korra says, grinning, and Jinora realizes that she's grinning too. Despite the lingering pain, she asks again for her baby, and this time the doctor obliges and hands her baby over.

Her baby is covered in blood and something slimy, her eyes are swollen and squeezed shut, she's wailing, and her face is wrinkled, but it's really her baby. She can see pieces of both her and Kai in their child—the baby has Kai's skin, the small puff of hair on her head is brown like her father's, Jinora's nose, Jinora's small ears, she's pretty sure that the baby has the same birthmark on her left arm as she does but it could just be the blood. The baby opens her eyes and Jinora notices that they are green, just like Kai's.

"Hi, baby," she whispers. The baby is still crying, but it's mostly fading to hiccoughs as Jinora cradles her in her arms. "Thanks for finally coming out of me."

Dr. Kyan places a hand on Jinora's shoulder. "Congratulations, Miss Gyatso," he says warmly. "Do you have a name yet?"

Jinora looks down at her baby—her baby!—and considers all of the names that she's been running through her head ever since Korra had mentioned baby names at the restaurant. She sighs, happy tears blurring her vision as she thinks of the perfect name for her baby girl. "Sora," she says firmly. "Sora Wen Gyatso."

Dr. Kyan and Korra quickly agree that this is a fine name, and someone hurriedly writes it down on a birth certificate. One of the nurses lets News back into the room, where he and Sora engage in a staring contest, both of them looking like they aren't sure what to do with each other but when he holds her, she seems calm in his grasp.

 _Oh, Kai_ , she thinks wistfully, _I wish you were here to see her._

* * *

They go back home two days later when Jinora is sufficiently recovered. Her hospital records are all erased, so there's no proof that she was ever there at all. News offers to accompany Jinora and Korra and baby Sora home, but Jinora insists that there's no need for that. "I'd rather not have my baby's godfather arrested the second he steps into town," she says with a grin. "You are a gang member, remember? Visit whenever you can, News. You'll always be welcome at my house."

After stammering his thanks and his hopes that she recovers in full and that Sora will be a healthy, happy child, he tips his hat at both of them, gets on his horse and gallops off into the horizon in the opposite direction as them.

"He's a good kid," Korra comments. Then her eyes narrow. "Jinora, what did you mean when you said that he's a gang member?"

Jinora nearly lies, but then she remembers all that Korra's done for her and thinks that she deserves to know the full truth. So on the train ride back from Wuchu, she tells Korra everything. How she'd been friends with Skoochy Nakamura and the Yu Dao Kid. How she and Kai had been lovers and Sora was his child. How News had known both Skoochy and Kai. Korra doesn't look like she particularly approves of Jinora's former sordid activities, but at least she doesn't say anything against it or threaten to report News and Jinora to the police.

Thank Raava for small miracles.

They arrive back in town at around dinnertime. Jinora and Korra part ways at the Gyatso townhouse, and Jinora is careful to hug Korra without hurting her newborn daughter. She places a sleeping Sora in her baby seat carrier, moves to the front door while holding her daughter's carrier cautiously, knocks twice and waits. When no one answers, she opens it herself, coming face to face with her mother.

"Jinora!" Pema exclaims, beckoning Jinora inside with a gigantic smile on her face. "Oh, Jinora, you're finally home! When did you get in? Oh, that doesn't matter. Tenzin, Meelo, Rohan—Jinora's home!"

Jinora gently places Sora on the ground, careful not to disturb her sleeping daughter and then throws her arms around her mother, breathing in her scent and trying hard not to cry because Raava's she's missed her family so much. Korra's been wonderful these last few months but it feels wonderful to be back in her mother's arms.

"Mom," she says, pulling away just as her father and brothers enter the room and greet her warmly. "Dad, Meelo, Rohan. I'd like you to meet someone." Tenzin looks past her, as if expecting to see a boy behind her, but Jinora carefully picks up Sora, trying not to startle her awake. "Everyone, this is my daughter, Sora."

Meelo's jaw drops. Rohan's eyes look ready to pop out of his skull. Her father's face is slowly turning bright red. Only Pema looks calm. "Your daughter?"

"Yes," Jinora says firmly before settling into the story that she, Korra and News had come up with. "She's adopted. I adopted her a few days ago. Korra and I ran into Sora's mother on the road, she was giving birth and we tried to help her, but she died a few hours after Sora was born. I couldn't leave Sora in an orphanage, I just—we'd seen them in our travels and they weren't a good place to raise a child, so I'm her mother now."

"Jinora, I don't particularly—"

"Dad, I don't care if you don't approve of my choices," she snaps. "And this goes for all of you. Sora is my daughter, and I would like you to treat her as such." This is it. If they don't accept Sora, then she's going to take her things and leave, family values be damned. But no one raises any objections or complaints or suggestions. "Thank you," she says gratefully. And then, "I've missed you all."

The barriers are well and truly broken now. Meelo and Rohan coo over baby Sora while Jinora speaks quietly with her parents about living arrangements and her travels. When Sora wakes up and starts fussing, Jinora realizes that she's probably hungry and moves into the bathroom so she can feed her. When she returns with a happier Sora, Pema and Tenzin continue the conversation like nothing had ever happened.

A couple of hours later, she goes back home for the first time in two months. Korra had already been by and set up a fully assembled crib in the main bedroom, saving Jinora a lot of time. She debates building a fire but then she remembers that it's spring already and it isn't that cold outside. She settles Sora in her new crib—Spirits, she's the best baby in the world, she's read so much about colicky babies that never stop crying but Sora is very well-behaved—and Jinora barely manages to take off her clothing before collapsing into bed and falling asleep.

* * *

Her baby is the talk of the town, but the gossip has good intentions for once. Everyone is gushing about how Governor Gyatso's daughter had adopted a baby and was now raising it like it was her own. No one's made fun of Sora for being a bastard, for which Jinora is infinitely grateful. She doesn't want to ever deal with that.

Sora is a wonderful baby. Jinora may not be getting as much sleep as usual, which makes her a bit tetchy, she still feels horrible pains from giving birth, and she isn't used to nursing yet, but whenever she's cradling Sora in her arms and hears her baby gurgle or sees her smile, a hot flush goes up and down her body and she feels completely content.

News has become sort of an honorary uncle to Sora. Whenever he visits, the two of them sit and stare at each other while News makes funny faces at Sora and Sora giggles like it's the funniest thing she's ever seen. Jinora doesn't mind at all having News in the house once in awhile (he tends to visit every other weekend, if he can)—she sees him as a younger brother, clumsy and awkward and funny and much more polite than Meelo. She still hasn't broken him out of his habit of calling her "Miss Gyatso", and she supposes that if he hasn't gotten over his habit now, then he never will. She's alright with that.

Jinora gets back into teaching and brings Sora with her the first few months, where the kids coo and insist that Sora is the cutest baby ever, which makes her beam with pride. Life goes on—she won't lie, it's a lot harder now that she's a single mother, but she has help from her parents and her siblings and Korra and News whenever he visits. She survives.

Sometimes she stays up late at night and wonders what Kai would think of Sora. If he'd love her as much as she does. If he's happy now, wherever he is.

She thinks that he is.

* * *

Korra's wedding day looms bright and early on an autumn morning. The bride is stunning in her wedding dress, and the knee-knocking groom looks ready to faint at the altar when she smiles at him. Asami is the maid of honor, and Opal, Jinora, and baby Sora are the bridesmaids. It had been tough to wrestle Sora, now six months old, into a dress, but she seems to be enjoying the cool autumn afternoon as much as everyone else. On the groom's side stands Bolin, Mako's best man, who is crying enough for everyone. Tenzin officiates the marriage, and Jinora thinks that she can mark this day down as one of the best days of her life because she's so happy for Korra that's she's found happiness. She really deserves it.

Korra and Mako exchange rings, vows, and a burning, passionate kiss, and while Jinora is happy for them she can't help but feel slightly jealous that it never got to be her up there, smiling at Kai and holding his hands and kissing him and becoming Mrs. Jinora Wen. She quells the feeling, though, and enjoys the festivities along with everyone else. She dances, has a few glasses of champagne, plays with Sora, and ends up leaving the party early just to put a fussy Sora to bed. Not that she minds—she's pretty tired herself, not to mention that she's getting tired of Akash Ling hitting on her. She hadn't been interested in him when Kai was alive and she's certainly not interested in him now.

"Hey, Sora," she says. Her baby is sitting next to Jinora on her bed, gurgling and playing with keychain. "I wish you could have met your daddy. He was a good man." She pauses, taking a moment to tousle Sora's hair. "He would have loved you so much."

"Mamamamama," Sora babbles, and tears fill Jinora's eyes.

"That's right, baby," she says, pulling Sora onto her lap and hugging her. "I love you to the moon and back."

* * *

Sora grows up, which alarms Jinora to no end because she swears that just yesterday she was holding Sora in her arms for the very first time and now she's growing up to be a beautiful little girl. Where has the time gone? She wants to interrogate it so she can have more time.

Sora's developed an interest in stories just like Jinora, and every night they cuddle up in Sora's new bed and read fairy tales together. Jinora knows that it's far too early to be teaching her child how to read, but she's not hurting anyone by trying. Besides, Sora loves it—Jinora would move moons just to elicit a toothy, genuine grin from Sora.

Whenever "Unca News" visits, Jinora can't help but giggle at how much News has grown in terms of interacting with Sora. Where before they could barely look at each other, now he's tossing her in the air and hugging her and blowing raspberries onto her stomach. Whenever "Auntie Korra" visits, she tries to get Sora into martial arts and weaponry and meditation—Jinora only allows one of those because no way in hell is her baby getting near any weaponry or fights—but makes sure to be a kind, loving aunt. Sora adores both of them, and they adore her.

One weekend, the two of them are expecting company from News, so it's no surprise when she hears a knock on the door. Sora jumps up from where she's coloring on the rug, but Jinora laughs and tells her to sit down, she'll be right back. After all, maybe it isn't News, maybe it's just a solicitor. The last person to come here had tried to get her to fund research on making carriages that aren't driven by horses. It's the stuff of science fiction, honestly. She goes up to answer the door but no one is there. Bemused, she looks back at her giggling daughter, who knocks again on the coffee table. Apparently her daughter is a prankster, just like her father and her uncle Meelo.

When Sora learns how to walk, Jinora doesn't leave her side for a second, always being there to catch her if she falls. When Sora learns how to talk, Jinora is almost jealous that her first word isn't "Mommy" but "dolly"—she'd been asking for the doll that News had picked up for her in Ba Sing Se—but ends up laughing it off. Sure enough, Sora's second word is "Mommy". When Sora hurts herself by falling off the porch, Jinora nearly loses her mind and doesn't stop panicking even when it turns out Sora's just suffered a scraped knee. She supposes this is what motherhood is like—soothing bruises and nightmares and panicking over small things but being entirely overwhelmed with love.

Miza and Sora become the best of friends despite their ten month age gap, and Jinora becomes friends with Ikki all over again. It's nice to sit and catch up with her sister once in awhile, even if they only really exchange parenting tips and gush about their children. Meelo and Tuyen are still together, although Jinora thinks that it won't last for much longer. Her father has attempted to get Meelo interested in running for Governor, as Rohan is still too young and Ikki and Jinora can't. Her mother decides to try her hand at cooking more exotic recipes, so dinner at the Gyatso townhouse is always an interesting experience.

As always, life goes on.

* * *

On Sora's first day of school, Jinora walks with her to the kindergarten classrooms of the schoolhouse, almost willing to change positions with Ms. Shunna just so she won't have to let her daughter out of her sight. But she bites down the urge and goes back to her classroom, resuming her lessons for the day.

Luckily for her (and unluckily for her students) she has a pop quiz assigned for today, which gives her plenty of time to ruminate over Sora's well being while her students scribble down hasty answers about their summer reading books. Then it's time for math, then history, and then recess—and she can go and check on Sora.

Sora skips toward Jinora as soon as her class is let out, beaming a big smile. "Momma!" she says, hugging Jinora around the waist. "Guess what I did today? Guess?"

"Hmmm...you saved the world?"

"No!" Sora giggles. "I drawed a picture, see?" She reaches into the pocket of her dress and takes out a crumpled piece of paper and hands it to Jinora. Jinora unfolds it and sees two crudely drawn stick figures that she thinks are supposed to represent her and Sora. It may not be art-museum worthy, but to Jinora it's the best drawing in the world.

"I love it, baby," she proclaims, kneeling down so she can give Sora a proper hug. "Can I hang it up in my classroom?"

Sora says yes and squirms out of her mother's grasp. "Auntie Ikki come to pick me up?"

"Yes, she is, she's going to pick up you and Miza and take you to her house." Jinora is thankful beyond belief that Ikki's agreed to take Sora for the afternoon while Jinora is still working. "You can tell me all about your first day when I pick you up, okay?"

Sora nods, and Jinora waits with her by the gate until a slightly rumpled-looking Ikki arrives, accompanied by Huan. (If Jinora has to guess, they had been trying to give Miza another sibling.) Ikki and Huan escort Sora and Miza to their home, and when Jinora is done teaching around four o'clock, she picks up Sora, takes her home, cooks dinner and listens to everything Sora has to say about her day.

Until Sora goes into second grade and her schedule changes, they repeat this routine every week.

Sometimes Sora helps Jinora plan out multiple choice tests—whichever letter Sora circles, Jinora marks it down as the correct answer. One time Sora picks A as the answer twenty-five in a row, and it's the most entertaining quiz Jinora's ever seen her students take. Sometimes Sora makes Jinora breakfast in the morning, and it tastes reasonably edible. Evidently she'd been taking lessons from Ikki.

When News visits, Sora shows her godfather her drawings and homework assignments and how she can read on her own now while he gasps at all the right moments and tells her stories of his "travels". But when she goes to bed, the conversation turns a lot more serious.

"Boss's been limiting my visits, Miss Jinora," News says, rubbing his eyes. He's barely broken his old habit after all these years. "I ain't going to be able to come around as much 'cause Zolt keeps saying that we need to beat the Red Monsoons and the Agni Kais in robberies and newspaper headings. What a schmuck."

"It's alright, I understand." She does. She may not like it but she does. "Visit when you can, News. I'll talk to Sora."

His visits are limited, but he starts appearing the papers more and more. Jinora and Korra hide the newspapers from Sora so she won't see her godfather proclaimed as a robber and a murderer.

They don't want her to see those accusations. They don't want her to know that they're true.

* * *

Sora Gyatso is only nine and a half, but that's plenty old enough to know that she's different from everyone else. For one, she doesn't have a daddy, only a momma, and she doesn't ask why because she thinks that Momma will get sad if she does. For another, she has a secret godfather that no one besides Momma and Auntie Korra can know about—she's been told for years not to tell Miza or her grandparents or her best friend Miki about Uncle News. She doesn't know why no one can know about Uncle News because he's the bestest guy in the world, but she supposed that maybe that's just how things work—maybe everyone has a secret uncle hidden away.

She walks into class one day after Momma drops her off and after they go over their math homework (she hates math, really she does), her teacher Mr. Jiang hands out several pieces of paper. They look weird, kind of like photographs, except they have the words WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE written across the top of the papers. Mr. Jiang explains these are called wanted posters, and the people in the wanted posters are called gang members and that they all have to watch out for them. Sora's heard of gang members before—she and her friends play Sheriffs and Bad Guys every day at recess—but she's not really sure what they do.

Sora looks at one wanted poster that Miki hands her. Whoever this guy is, he looks a bit like her—his hair color and his green eyes are the same as hers. His name is listed as THE YU DAO KID, and it says that he died about ten years ago. He may be a bad guy but she can't help but wonder how he died. It doesn't say on the poster.

She turns to her friends Miki and Ai, who are also chatting about the wanted posters. "Hey, Sora, look at this one—can I have yours?" Ai asks, already holding out her hand. Sora switches posters with Ai and when she takes a look at Ai's poster she feels like she's going to be sick.

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, the poster proclaims, NOTIN "NEWS" MATSUMOTO, and Uncle News's frowning face stares up at her. Uncle News has a wanted poster. He...he's a bad guy. He's wanted for killing people and robbing banks and...

What in the world is this? She doesn't understand. How can this be? Uncle News plays dolls with her and makes her laugh and helps Momma cook and tells them stories. He can't be a bad guy.

She almost blurts out her questions but then she remembers that Uncle News has to be kept secret from everyone, so she just decides to ask Momma about it later.

The poster's probably not right, anyway.

* * *

When class is dismissed, Sora says goodbye to her friends and runs over to her mother's classroom. Momma's stacking some papers and putting them into her take home folder-that means that there's going to be some grading to do tonight. Cool. Sora's always loved helping her mother do that. "Hello, Momma."

Momma looks up and a tired smile appears on her face. She brushes a bit of her hair to the side as she steps around her desk, satchel on her arm, and hugs Sora tightly. "Hello, Sora," she says. "How was your day?"

"It was good," she answers. She doesn't want to ask Momma her question until they're at home-for some reason she feels like this isn't the best time or place to ask. "What about you?"

Momma sighs, and the two of them start walking out the door. "It was a really long day, for one thing. Three kids didn't do their homework so I had to teach them a whole new lesson and now I'm behind in my schedule. Math went well, but I have to reteach fractions now." Sora grimaces, knowing how much she and her mother both hated fractions. "I know, I know."

When they get home, Momma drops her satchel on the couch and goes into the kitchen to put on the kettle. Sora plops onto a chair at the kitchen table, wondering how she's going to bring up the subject. She knows that it's ridiculous-how can her Uncle News be a bad guy?-but at the same time she really needs her mother to say so too.

"Sora, are you alright? You look upset, did something happen in school today?"

Sora flinches. "Ah, well…" This is it. It's now or never. "Momma, we...today in school Mr. Jiang told us all about gangs." Her mother stiffens. "And he gave us these things called wanted posters and...and Uncle News was on one of them. Which is ridiculous because he isn't a bad guy and those things said that he was a bad guy and he's not a bad guy, right Momma? It was just a joke, right Momma?"

Momma doesn't answer for a long time. The house is silent except for the ticking of the clock and the gurgles coming from the kettle as the water boils. "Baby," she whispers, pulling up a chair and sitting down in it. "I want you to listen to me. I've wanted to tell you this for years, Sora, but I didn't think that you were old enough to understand. But first I have to know-did you tell anyone at school today about how you know News? Your teacher? Miki? Miza? Anyone?"

Sora shakes her head no, scared. "No, Momma."

"Good." Momma sighs, clearly relieved. "Listen to me now, Sora Gyatso. I'm going to tell you everything, and everything that I'm going to say to you now can never ever leave this house. Do you understand me, young lady?"

Sora nods.

"When I was twenty," Momma says, "I was at a dance in town. Your grandfather made me go so I could find a future husband-I was twenty and twenty was practically considered an old maid back then. These two men began harassing me, and I was genuinely frightened and about two seconds away from calling over the Sheriff when suddenly two gentlemen came out of nowhere and saved me. Their names were Kai and Skoochy." Momma stops talking for a second and wipes away a tear. Sora's never seen Momma cry before. "Kai and Skoochy-I could never tell anyone about them. They-they were gang members, they worked with the Triple Threat Triads. And I'd grown up hearing how awful the Triple Threats were, how they killed people and stole money but Kai and Skoochy were both so kind and wonderful and caring that I ignored their past and loved them for who they were. Kai and I fell in love, Sora. For three years we were in love and I couldn't tell anybody about him because I was afraid that they would lock him up forever and that I'd never see him again."

Sora's shocked. Momma had never told her this before. "And...what happened to Kai?"

"He died. He and Skoochy both died-they were shot and killed in a raid in Tianjiao." Momma gulps. "I was...I was very sad, for almost a month. I kept thinking that there was no way that Kai was dead, not Kai. And then I found out that I was going to have a baby, and I couldn't be sad anymore, not when I had to look out for two people." Momma takes Sora's hand. "Honey, that baby was you. Kai was your daddy."

Sora recoils so quickly that she nearly falls off her chair. She...she did have a daddy. He died before she was born. He didn't even know about her, and if Mr. Jiang hadn't handed out wanted posters today then maybe she would never have known about him. Kai. She had a daddy named Kai.

Suddenly her mind goes back to when she'd been looking at the Yu Dao Kid's wanted poster. It had had all of his aliases listed under his name, and one of them had been Kai Wen. Wen, she thinks. Just like her middle name. Oh Raava. "Was the Yu Dao Kid my daddy?"

Momma nods, tears leaking down her face. "And...and when I found out I was pregnant, I didn't know what to do. Only your Aunt Korra knew that I was pregnant, and then…" She smiles suddenly. "Then one day I was coming home from work and a random stranger was banging on my door. Turned out he was a Triple Threat gang member who was told to deliver Kai's will to me."

"That stranger was Uncle News, wasn't he?" Sora knows the answer before her mother confirms it. "Why can't Uncle News just quit being in the Triple Threats?"

It's as though Momma is far, far away when she answers. "Because," she starts, trying to find a way to explain, and then stops and sighs. "Because just like your father, he doesn't have a choice anymore."

Sora understands. She doesn't like it, but she understands. "I don't care that he's a Triple Threat," she proclaims after a moment's pause. "I love him anyway."

Her declaration moves Momma to tears, and then they're hugging and weeping onto each other's shoulders like fools on the kitchen floor. The tea kettle whistles in the background, but they both ignore it. Sora spends the rest of the afternoon begging her mother for stories about her daddy, and when they both go to bed that evening after a dinner of cookies and tea, they sleep in the same bed, completely tuckered out after the events of the day.

Jinora, again, can't help but dwell on how wonderful her daughter is.

* * *

The years pass. Jinora watches Sora grow up from a nervous, studious little girl to a beautiful, intelligent, funny young woman. When she is accepted to a university in Ba Sing Se, Jinora cries for two days because while she's ecstatic for Sora, she also doesn't want her daughter to leave home. Empty Nest Syndrome, Ikki calls it. She should know, having sent off Miza to an art school in Capital City the previous year. Sora writes her letters every week, and Jinora goes up to Ba Sing Se to visit her daughter during birthdays and the holidays. It's different now, being alone in her house for the first time in eighteen years, but she handles it.

When Sora's fifteen, News abdicates from the weakening Triple Threat Triads and comes to town to beg Sheriff Beifong for amnesty. Korra, Jinora and Sora all testify for him, and he's sentenced to fifteen months in jail. He's released after eleven months, is placed on parole, eventually meets Kanna Wei-Ying, the market owner's daughter, and marries her. Sora never looks down on him because of his criminal history, even when he tells her everything that he and Kai and Skoochy had to do in order to survive. The list involves murder in every degree and robbery, but she never holds it against him. It takes News over twenty years to break his habit of calling her "Miss Gyatso", and Jinora can't help but find it strange when he calls her by her first name instead of "Miss Jinora."

As the years pass, Jinora notices her hair growing gray and her body growing weaker. The lines in her face deepen and the laugh lines near her eyes become more pronounced. Everyone is getting older. Her parents pass away within years of each other. Korra, Mako, Opal, Bolin and Asami are all in their fifties and sixties and before she knows it, so is she. Miza gets married. Rohi, Korra and Mako's son, moves to the Southern Water Tribe with his childhood sweetheart. Sora gets married on her twenty-sixth birthday to a man named Jing Matsuki, an accountant from Gaoling. Jinora's hair goes from gray to white, and she becomes a grandmother. Ikki and Huan become grandparents two years later. Sora moves back to town to raise her children back where she'd raised.

When Jinora learns that Sora had named her son Kai, she cries for over an hour.

Kai never leaves her thoughts, not really. She doesn't know why after all of these years she hasn't been able to let him go. How had she become so attached to someone that she'd only known for three years? Why does her heart still pine for him after so long? She'd spent the last thirty years feeling bad for trying to live a happy, fulfilling life while her heart still belongs to a dead man and she still doesn't know why.

It doesn't matter, though. She'll see him again someday. She knows it.

* * *

In the end, Jinora is surrounded by her family.

Her family has been clustered at her side for the past few weeks, ever since they've received that damning diagnosis of cancer. Korra and Mako and her parents are dead, but Ikki is there, and Huan, and Miza, and News, and Rohan and Meelo, along with their wives and children. And of course on her right is Sora, stone-faced and holding hand tightly. Her husband had gone to fetch coffee for everyone, and Sora's children are on the next train there.

"Is there anything you need?" Sora's voice is tight and quiet, and she looks as though she's struggling not to cry.

"No, I'm fine." Jinora smiles weakly, chuckling. At that moment, Sora resembles Kai so much—from her green eyes down to her forced, crooked smile. "You are your father's daughter."

Sora's gaze softens and tears begin forming at the corners of her eyes. "Momma…"

"Don't cry, sweetheart," Jinora says. She wishes that she had the strength to give her daughter a hug. "I've lived a good life. I'm ready to move on now."

And it's true. She'd taught for over forty years before retiring and writing a few novels. She'd made long and lasting friendships. She'd fallen in love. She'd traveled the world and seen many exotic sights. She'd raised a beautiful daughter. She'd doted over her grandchildren.

After seventy years, she's ready to move on.

Later that evening, when everyone is sleeping—even Sora, an insomniac most days just like her father—she relaxes for the first time in ages and finds her breathing ease, her eyelids droop. She's slipping, falling farther and farther into a tunnel of red and gold in her dimly-lit bedroom and her life flashes before her eyes quickly, like she's flipping through the pages of a book.

And then a quiet roar in the back of her brain drowns out the sound around her. It overtakes her, and it's warm in the darkness, easier to breathe.

She's sinking, not floating.

Sora is the last thing she sees before everything goes dark.

* * *

"Missed me, Jin?"


End file.
